In his column, “Gov. LePage? Maybe it won’t be so bad,” Edgar Allen Beem pretty well summed up the prevailing political thinking in Maine.

He says that Republican Paul LePage “prescribes cutting taxes, reducing the size of state government and reducing government regulations as the keys to success,” but his opinion is that LePage doesn’t understand creative economy. (Why do I expect creative economy involves growing the size of government?)

Meanwhile, “Libby Mitchell, the Democrat, talks about her support for government spending on the arts.” But then he said, “Something tells me this is not going to be a good year for politicians identified with government spending.”

His final words are “Maine survived Jim Longley and it can survive Paul LePage, too. And if the economy rebounds, as it did toward the end of the Longley administration, the Tea Party may be over, Paul LePage can go back to peddling tube socks, and it will be time to elect Libby Mitchell Maine’s first woman governor.”

So, let’s elect a Republican to reign in spending, let’s let the economy rebound, and then let’s elect Libby Mitchell, who can increase government spending.

Maybe, if you think about these points for a few minutes, you’ll understand the frustration of the conservatives with the current political climate. The liberals understand it may take sacrifice and down-scaling to get the economy turned around, but once it has rebounded, we can grow government again.

Finally, what frightens me the most is, “How Maine goes, so goes the nation.”

Jeff Marstaller
North Yarmouth

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